BASEBALL: LONG DAY

CU OPENS TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE WITH LOSS TO A-B

Ryan Johnston Stretch (JL)
Not much went well for Concord in its first game in what wound up being a long first day at the 2012 WVIAC Baseball Tournament.

The Mountain Lions were scheduled to start at 8:00 pm in their Pool 2 game against Alderson-Broaddus, but had to wait for more than an hour for the game to start when the game before it went 12 innings.
Once the game got underway, CU had a difficult time solving A-B starting pitcher Paul Gonzalez.  Meanwhile, the Battlers' bats got going, and when the contest ended – after 11:30 pm – Concord found itself on the wrong end of a 10-1 score on a chilly evening at Point Stadium in Johnstown, PA.

Concord went into the tournament having won nine of its previous ten games.  But Thursday was CU's first game since April 29 – an 11-day layoff.

A-B put runners in scoring position without success against Concord starting pitcher Ryan Weatherholtz in each of the first two innings, and broke through for four runs in the bottom of the 3rd.  All-WVIAC outfielder Sean Collette led off with a triple; the next man up, David Bryan, fouled off five straight 3-2 pitches to draw a walk.  Mitch Roy singled to left to give A-B a 1-0 lead.  Bryan beat out the throw to third, with Roy moving to second.
Weatherholtz retired the next two hitters, but Jeff Conley singled to left to drive in Bryan and Roy and Kirby Clemens doubled to score Conley to give the Battlers a 4-0 lead.

Kevin Mack vs A-B (JL)
Alderson-Broaddus tallied twice more in the 5th.  Mike Hackett led off with a solo homer; one out later Clemens doubled again, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Daniel Essian's groundout.

Gonzalez kept Concord off the board until the top of the 6th, when Jerrod Groves golfed the first pitch of the inning just inside the left field foul pole – and just over the 40-foot high “Mesh Monster” fence in left field – for a solo home run that brought CU within 6-1.
But A-B countered with more two-out success in the bottom of the inning.  Mitch Roy singled and Bobby McLaughlin doubled, making the score 7-1 and ending Weatherholtz's day.

Alderson-Broaddus stitched together four straight two-out singles off reliever Kevin Mack to add three runs in the 7th and close out the scoring.

Gonzalez threw 131 pitches in a complete-game victory, allowing six hits and four walks but inducing three double plays.   The Battlers (28-22) collected 17 hits and were 6-15 with runners in scoring position.


Up next for Concord (24-27) is a matchup against WVIAC South Division champion West Virginia Wesleyan (28-17) in the second day of Pool 2 play, tomorrow – Friday, May 11 – at 1:00 pm at Point Stadium.  The game will be webcast on the WVIAC Tournament Network and broadcast locally on ESPN Radio 102.3 FM The Ticket (WMTD, Hinton/Princeton/Beckley).

(photos courtesy of Jennifer Logan)





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